Vitamin E Important in Lung Health

By CP Staff

Vitamin E supplementation may reduce the risk of developing chronic lung disease, according to a new study. The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute reports that lung diseases, excluding lung cancer, caused approximately 225,000 deaths in 2006. Additionally, Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (COPD) is the forth leading cause of death in the United States.

This new study evaluated the potential relationship between vitamin E supplementation and the development of chronic lung diseases including emphysema, chronic bronchitis and bronchiectasis. The subjects included 39,876 female health professionals age 45 years or older. The women received either 600 IU of vitamin E every other day or 100 mg of aspirin every other day.

The results of the study showed that among the 38,270 women with no history of lung disease at the beginning of the study, there were 760 new cases of chronic lung disease in the group receiving vitamin E supplementation compared to 846 new cases in the aspirin group. This indicated that vitamin E supplementation decreased the risk of developing chronic lung disease by 10 percent compared to the group receiving aspirin. In addition, although the subjects with a history of smoking had a four-fold increased risk of developing chronic lung disease, the effect of vitamin E was not modified by smoking.

The researchers concluded, “In this large, randomized trial, supplementation with vitamin E reduced the risk of new diagnosis of chronic lung disease, indicating a possible preventive strategy.”

Reference:

Agler AH, Kurth T, Gaziano JM, Buring JE, Cassano PA. Randomized Vitamin E Supplementation And Risk Of Chronic Lung Disease (CLD) In The Women\'s Health Study. Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med. 2010;181: A5183.